Rangers happy to see this Athletics' outfielder leave town after dominant weekend

The Texas Rangers did a pretty good job keeping noted Rangers' killer Shea Langeliers in check in the with the Athletics in town over the weekend. Unfortunately, a new threat emerged and seems to have dialed in on whoever the Rangers handed the ball to.

Second-year outfielder Carlos Cortes did all the damage the A's would need to win the series and break the tie atop the AL West a month into the season. The 28-year-old from Florida proved to be more than the home team could handle.

Carlos Cortes looks like the newest Ranger killer in 2026

In only his second season in MLB, Cortes bounced onto the radar from nowhere and looked like Ted Williams for the A's over the three-game set.

For the series, Cortes went 6-for-9 with a double, triple and two home runs while driving in six at Globe Life Field, showing both the ability to hit for power and spray the ball to all fields. His RBIs were the game winners in both games that the A's won on Friday and Sunday.

Through seven games played against the Rangers so far in 2026, Cortes is 8-for-19 and has looked like he knew exactly what the Rangers' hurlers were going to throw, jumping on good pitches from Nathan Eovaldi, MacKenzie Gore and Kumar Rocker. For his career against Texas over, he is now 11-for-27 (.407) with eight RBIs.

Cortes is also looking like a late-bloomer, and could be a Ranger nemesis for years to come

Drafted by the New York Mets out of the University of South Carolina in the third round of the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft, Cortes has paid his dues, racking up almost ten full seasons in the Mets and A's farm systems. He was granted free agency in 2024 and signed on with the A's.

His game really came together in early 2025 with the A's Triple-A affiliate, Las Vegas, where he mashed 17 homers and drove in 77 runs in just 71 games. He was called up to the big league squad in July and has only been getting better.

Through 29 games in 2026, Cortes is slashing an impressive .351/.413/.649, giving A's head coach, Mark Kotsay, every reason to leave him in the middle of their lineup moving forward.

Fortunately for the Rangers and their pitching staff, they will only face Cortes and the A's six more times this season and will not square off again until mid-August.

If the first seven games against their AL West rivals are an indication of future results, Texas can count Cortes as the next Langeliers and Cal Raleigh, who turn into Hall of Famers when he sees the squad from Arlington on the field.

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